Opposing the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the
Constitution in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
regarding the constitutional rights of corporations;
supporting an amendment to the Constitution to provide that
corporations are not entitled to the entirety of protections
or rights of natural persons, specifically so that the
expenditure of corporate money to influence the electoral
process is no longer a form of constitutionally protected
speech; and calling on Congress to begin the process of
amending the Constitution.
Whereas, In 2010 the United States Supreme Court issued its
decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, holding
that independent spending on elections by corporations and other
groups could not be limited by government regulations; and
Whereas, This decision rolled back the legal restrictions on
corporate spending in the electoral process, allowing for the
unlimited corporate spending to influence elections, candidate
selection and policy decisions; and
Whereas, In reaching this decision, a narrow majority of the Supreme Court, relying on and expanding prior decisions,
interpreted the First Amendment of the Constitution to afford
corporations the same free speech protections as natural persons;
and
Whereas, The Supreme Court relied on other prior decisions
which afforded the spending of money to influence elections the
full protection of the First Amendment and disregarded the
distorting and corrupting effects of unlimited money in elections;
and
Whereas, In his eloquent dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens
rightly recognized that, "corporations have no consciences, no
beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help
structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be
sure, and their 'personhood' often serves as a useful legal
fiction. But they are not themselves members of 'We the People' by
whom and for whom our Constitution was established"; and
Whereas, The court's decision in Citizens United severely
hampers the ability of federal, state and local governments to
enact reasonable campaign finance reforms and regulations regarding
corporate political activity; and
Whereas, Corporations should not be afforded the entirety of
protections or rights of natural persons, such that the expenditure
of corporate money to influence the electoral process is a form of
constitutionally protected speech; and
Whereas, In 2012 the same narrow majority of the Supreme Court
voted to strike down longstanding campaign finance laws in the
State of Montana without hearing any evidence or argument on that
state's own history and experience with corporate spending and
corruption; and
Whereas, Several proposed amendments to the Constitution have
been introduced in Congress that would allow government to regulate
the raising and spending of money by corporations to influence
elections; and
Whereas, On Election Day, 2012, over six million voters across
the United States, including the states of Colorado and Montana,
had the opportunity to vote on state and local ballot measures
calling for a constitutional amendment to limit money in politics,
and all proposed initiatives passed overwhelmingly, averaging
seventy-five percent support; therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate:
That the Senate opposes the United States Supreme Court's
interpretation of the Constitution in Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission regarding the constitutional rights of
corporations; supports an amendment to the Constitution to provide
that corporations are not entitled to the entirety of protections
or rights of natural persons, specifically so that the expenditure
of corporate money to influence the electoral process is no longer
a form of constitutionally protected speech; and calls on Congress to begin the process of amending the Constitution; and, be itFurther Resolved, That the Senate respectfully opposes the
United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution in
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and related cases
allowing unlimited corporate election spending; and, be itFurther Resolved, That the Senate supports an amendment to the
United States Constitution to establish that corporations are not
entitled to the same rights and protection as natural persons under
the Constitution; and, be itFurther Resolved, That such an amendment should assure the
power of the federal, state and local governments to limit,
regulate and require disclosure of sources of all money spent to
influence elections; and, be itFurther Resolved, That the Senate charges the West Virginia
Congressional Delegation with the duty to support such an
amendment, to work diligently towards its passage and to vote at
all stages to advance such legislation in the Congress; and, be itFurther Resolved, That the Senate declares its intention to
ratify such an amendment if and when the Congress shall submit it
to the states; and, be itFurther Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to deliver
a copy of this resolution to the Vice President of the United
States and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority and Minority Leaders of both houses of Congress and to each United
States Senator and Member of the House of Representatives from West
Virginia.